Fed-up With The Trucking Industry

I'm just gonna say it and if it makes me appear rude, so be it...

I'm frankly a bit terrified that someone who couldn't handle commercial cargo (and hit a building FFS) is now responsible for human cargo. Just sayin'

To 'swing the rope' if you will ... the comparisons are small, yet huge .. between driving a bus and a t/t.

Our son's bus driver has a license for both (and many do not) and she sure WILL agree, that here in the country, the continuum of the vehicle (no pivot) is more predictable. She sent me these:

Just sayin' too....

And this: Bus vs. 18 wheeler ~

Shout out (with one arm!) to Mary!

~ Anne ~

I'm not speaking from the perspective of one being more difficult than the other. I'm speaking from the perspective of his obvious attitude problem and his willingness to blame everything in his life on someone else. Those are the sorts of people that are difficult to train for just about any job.

Dollar Accounts are basically career suicide. I'm sorry nobody told you.

That's why they usually guarantee paychecks or have a high cent per mile rate.

If I am getting this right (I am not a driver yet), you ignored all advice on here about dollar accounts, you are angry that you failed and are blaming everyone and everything else besides yourself. I hate yo tell you but in every profession you will struggle with that attitude. The best attitude is treat others the way you want to be treated (Golden Rule, Matthew 7:12), always look to yourself for ways to improve instead of pointing your finger because you will always have 3 pointing back at you, and finally if you go in with a ****y attitude and an attitude that you things are never your fault you will fail at absolutely every industry you work in.

Godspeed on your next endeavour, I pray that you will find happiness, but as a minister I can tell you happiness can only be found in Christ

Here's some facts:

My CDL school was only 2.5 weeks. We only learned 3 maneuvers for backing.

I wasn't taught what a load bar is, straps and how to use it.

My OTR training was two weeks long.

My final phase of training was done Solo with maybe a phone call per week from dispatch.

Sounds exactly like the training Johnathan had. Why then is my experience so different with the trucking industry?

Why then am I finding success and thriving in the trucking industry?

What do I do differently to avoid mistakes and when I make them, how do I react?

Think about it Johnathan.

To the guy that keeps saying, "you should know how to use a load bar without having ever been taught. It's not rocket science," Here:

• 2 Sound_Event /chime

• 80 Sound_Event /open

• 90 Sound_Event open

• 240 Sound_Event /close

• 250 Sound_Event /announcement

• 260 Sound_Event announcement

• 360 Sound_Event /alarm

• 528 Sound_Event closea

• 536 Sound_Event /closea

I want you to tell me what that is, what it means and how you're supposed to use it. You should be able to find out without me telling you. It's not rocket science. By your logic, next time the power goes out, I should just climb on the power utility poles myself because I should know how to safely work on power utility lines without ever being trained on them. It's not rocket science. So go on. Tell me what it means and how to use it.

Easier to read ... ^^^ and easier to post! (Yes, self taught there too...with a bit'o Brett's help!)

Sounds like Johnothan's internet (Xfinity?) is throwing codes.... I might be wrong, I've got CenturyLink, sadly.

Load locks (bars) however, I'm self taught on those, as well. Found MANY uses for the ones that got 'left behind' here at the homestead, LoL!

~ Anne ~

My OTR training was two weeks long.

My final phase of training was done Solo with maybe a phone call per week from dispatch.

Sounds exactly like the training Johnathan had. Why then is my experience so different with the trucking industry?

Why then am I finding success and thriving in the trucking industry?

What do I do differently to avoid mistakes and when I make them, how do I react?

Thanks Davy!

One of the things I want new folks looking into this to realize is that your training can never cover everything. The training in trucking is done quickly and it's done with the expectation that you will take some initiative in the process. You will not be spoon-fed every little detail you need to know. In fact it would be impossible or extremely costly to do it that way. Trucking is unique. The people who succeed at it are unique. It is a challenge. None of us here take exception to that sentiment.

We empathize with any newbie who is struggling and not getting the hang of the career. We don't give much credence to those who justify their failures by blaming everyone and everything as if it were some conspiratorial entrapment. Trucking requires a lot of self motivation and discipline. Poor Jonathan got himself into enough of a mess to get fired during his first three months. That is really hard to overcome as he found out. He made the mistakes that cost him a lucrative career.

I urge those of you following along in this conversation to notice how he is now trying to show us how smart he is by providing us with some asinine riddle he thinks we should figure out on our own. It is a common trait of the newbies who think they know better than all the successful trucking companies and drivers who have nothing to prove. We established our careers. Some of us had rough starts, but we managed it. When you have three accidents in three months, you are on thin ice. Most of these large carriers will work with their rookie drivers who show some form of humility and willingness to learn. It is obvious to all of us how Jonathan prefers his own opinions and aggressive attitudes over what we have to offer. Werner became acutely aware of his ways also. You have to build relationships in this business. Jonathan is more adept at building hostility and antagonism.

The best way to start a trucking career is to realize that you know nothing, and determine that you will cooperate with your dispatcher. You have to be aware that this whole process is a learning curve. You are in training for your whole first year. You don't go through three or four weeks of training expecting to know everything needed. Your employer knows you know next to nothing and they are going to help you if you are willing to be helped. Beside the fact that he actually got fired for three accidents in three months, he gives us a few clues into his relationship with dispatch. It had to be very poor. Listen to the little bit he clues us in on...

they falsely accused me of "willful malicious behavior." Sure I was mad at Werner, but lying so I can't collect unemployment is really low. That was the last straw. I filed a dispute and said, "I was not fired for willful malicious behavior. I worked to the best of my ability with the information given (which wasn't much) and was not trained on how to make deliveries to convenience stores." I was given a chance to argue my case. They gave me some paperwork explaining what Werner was accusing me of. I didn't get a chance to read all of it, but every single word I read was a lie. They said I "refused to listen to dispatch."

I am not trying to dispute which party was lying. I'm merely pointing out there was a lot of discord between Jonathan and his company. Why was that? Here is a rookie driver who should be doing everything he can to learn the ropes without causing too much friction in his relationships with his support team. He failed. You cannot start this career like that. It will end badly for you. I feel for guys like this. There are a lot of them who come and go in the trucking business. They are headstrong upstarts who mistakenly think this is just like any other job. The trucking industry is misjudged everyday by newbies jumping in. Don't underestimate the difficulties of making a good start. You have to be willing to learn on your own, and you have to take an approach that is not confrontational to the very people who can and will help you.

I can't help but wonder....

If the operation of a load lock was difficult, is there a special certification required for opening and closing the bus door? Is that a short bus, by chance? Asking for a friend.

Jonathan,

I'm confused. You got fired after 3 months and because of that you lost a 2006 vehicle because you couldn't make payments and it was repo'ed. So, was it a brand new vehicle that got confiscated back in 2006 or 7...or was it a used vehicle that you were making payments on later than that but really liked still.

Regardless, that was 15 years ago!! So how long have you been driving bus, because you are talking about all kinds of awards that you have gotten. And you've been on this forum for 4 years without posting anything and you post now?? Something is not adding up!!

If this happened back in 2006 or 2007, why in the world are you posting anything about what occurred back then? And you are hanging on to it this long??? Boy, if that's the case you definitely need counseling and I can speak from experience. Back in my younger days I had a bad attitude, didn't like people, didn't get along with people and I hung on to the anger forever...until one day I called a Captain a not nice name and was put up for an Article 15, which in the military is non-judicial punishment but you can be fined and have forfeitures of rank. Fortunately, I had a civilian boss that felt there was something worthy about me and he had the Article 15 stopped on the condition that I go to mental health counseling. That was the best thing that ever happened to me because I learned to not carry anger, learned to like and talk with people and now that I'm 70 I can say the past 35 years have been a lot better after I gave up all that anger.

Better start looking inward.

Laura

It's been quite some time since I posted here, but I'll chime in.

I drove for Werner for about a year. Started with the Dollar Tree account (HUGE mistake). After I quit that account, I then went OTR (home weekly) for almost a year and loved it. After that ended, sadly, I took the Dollar General account because it would let me be home weekly (that's important to me). Another big mistake, and after a couple of months, I got back to the DC and told them I was turning in my keys. Haven't driven a truck since (it's been about 2 years). I absolutely agree with some posters/admins here - do NOT do a dollar account as your first trucking job, and in fact, a few people here will echo this sentiment - unless you're young (under, say, 35) and built like a linebacker, don't do a dollar account at all. I once had to unload an entire 53-foot trailer, all 40,000 pounds, by myself in an 8-hour stretch (and I was behind, they wanted it done in 6 hours). I'm in my 50's, and after I was done with that job, I slept for 12 hours at the nearest truck stop and quit that account as soon as I got back to the DC. If I ever considered going back on the road again, I'd only do OTR. Give me drop and hook every time.

I'm not sure where you went to CDL school, but I took mine in Philadelphia, PA. A rough city to drive in, even without driving a big rig. We had plenty of opportunities to practice backing. Sounds to me like you had some lousy instructors.

Jonathan, I am not sure you need our replies, your mind seems to be made, and you are not likely to change it... maybe you are just doing some research for a paper or collect stuff for you youtube channel, who knows? I won't bother to open my mouth if we had a personal conversation, but since it is a public forum, I will tell why everything you listed is exclusively your fault. When you decided to earn money driving a truck, why didn't you do the most simple thing - rent a Penske tractor and trailer, find a load and start driving? You obviously didn't do it because you didn't have skills. If you nonetheless did it and had an accident and someone died, would you blame anyone but yourself? Probably not. Now how is your situation different? CDL schools teach one thing - how to pass a test. You still lack skills, which is exactly why all trucking companies send you OTR with a trainer for several weeks. And after that a lot of people (you definitely read it here) are nervous during their first solo month. The real training begins when you are assigned a truck, and lasts between six months and a year. The moment you turn the key, start the truck and hit the road, you are responsible for everything. So if you felt that you did not have enough training at Werner, you should not take that job, it is that simple. If you didn't know how something (a lock bar, for example) works, why did you agree to use it without asking? You know, there is a BBQ chain in Texas, Rudy's, and they have many funny signs inside. One of them says: Clean up after youself, your mama is not here! This is very close to what we are discussing now :-)